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January 30 2012
Buck: Movie Review
I’m not very interested horses and I’m even less in cowboys, but Buck was a good movie, an inspiring documentary.
Former President John Tyler’s (1790-1862) grandchildren still alive
Former President John Tyler, born 221 years ago, still has two living grandchildren. The one-term president isn’t a well-known historical figure; he’s probably best remembered for helping to push through the annexation of Texas in 1845, shortly before leaving office.
So, how is it possible that a former president who died 150 years ago would still have direct descendents alive today? As it turns out, the Tyler men were known for fathering children late in life. And that math is pretty outstanding when added up:
John Tyler was born in 1790. He became the 10th president of the United States in 1841 after William Henry Harrison died in office. Tyler fathered Lyon Gardiner Tyler in 1853, at age 63. Then, at the age of 71, Lyon Gardiner Tyler fathered Lyon Gardiner Tyler Jr. in 1924 and four years later at age 75, Harrison Ruffin Tyler. Both men are still alive today.
That means just three generations of the Tyler family are spread out over more than 200 years. President Tyler was also a prolific father, having 15 children (8 boys and 7 girls) with two wives.
He even allegedly fathered a child, John Dunjee, with one of his slaves.
Some context on Tyler’s progeny: Jane Garfield (granddaughter of James Garfield) is 99, making her the oldest living grandchild of a former president, even though Garfield took office 40 years after Tyler.
Former Ambassador John Eisenhower is the oldest living presidential child, turning 89 this past August. …
Former President John Tyler’s (1790-1862) grandchildren still alive | The Sideshow – Yahoo! News.
Video: Lego man sent to space
A video posted on YouTube appeared to show the amazing voyage of a Lego man sent into space on a homemade spacecraft by two Toronto students.
Mathew Ho and Asad Muhammad, both 17, used a weather balloon ordered online and a makeshift Styrofoam spacecraft to send the plastic astronaut 15 miles into the stratosphere, reports said.
Their high school principal Lecourgos Papathanasakis confirmed the “amazing voyage” but neither of the teens was immediately available for comment.
An accelerated video clip posted online at tinyurl.com/836mggd shows highlights of the Lego man during his 97-minute odyssey.
Ultimately, he is seen holding a Canadian flag with the curvature of the Earth and the blackness of space in the background.
Canadian media said the pair had fitted a box tethered to the balloon with four cameras and a cellphone enabled with a GPS (global positioning system) device to capture the journey.
They then added a nylon parachute stitched on Mr Muhammad’s mother’s sewing machine to ensure that Lego man would return to Earth safely.
The balloon was filled with helium purchased from a party supply store.
The whole enterprise cost less than £320.
The duo then consulted a website to calculate the estimated landing spot of the weather balloon based on launch coordinates, prevailing winds and other data before launching it from a soccer pitch in nearby Newmarket, Ontario.
At four miles in altitude, the balloon travelled out of cell phone range and the GPS signal also cut out, so they went home and reportedly made dumplings.
Then Ho’s iPad beeped. The Lego man had re-entered the atmosphere and touched down in a field 75 miles from the launch point.
Strange Exits: Chantale Lavigne was ‘cooked to death,’ coroner says
Quebec police officers have completed their report into the bizarre death of Chantale Lavigne — who was “cooked to death” at a personal development seminar — and investigators are expected to meet with the Quebec prosecutor assigned to the case as early as next week.
It will be up to the prosecutor “to decide whether any charges will be filed, and, if so, what they would be,” Rene Verret, a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office, said Thursday.
The manner in which Lavigne died was “very unusual,” Verret noted.
An autopsy report on Lavigne’s body has yet to be completed, the Quebec coroner’s office said. But Radio-Canada quoted coroner Gilles Sainton as saying the 35-year-old mother of two from St. Albert, Que., “was cooked to death.”
Lavigne died in hospital after she and eight others in a personal-development seminar called Dying in Consciousness were covered with mud, wrapped in plastic, put under blankets and immobilized with their heads in cardboard boxes for about nine hours, under instructions to hyperventilate.
Lavigne was removed, unconscious and with a body temperature of 40.5 C, from the Ferme Reine de la Paix in the Drummondville, Que., area after a 911 call that Radio-Canada said had been made by Gabrielle Frechette, a self-styled therapist who was the seminar’s operator.
A 49-year-old woman taken to hospital at the same time survived.
Radio-Canada quoted Sainton as saying that Lavigne died of hyperthermia, when the body produces or is subjected to more heat than it is able to dissipate. The normal human body temperature is 37 C.
Sainton “has not completed his report,” Deslauriers said. “Generally, it takes about nine months before a coroner’s report is ready.”
Results of the uncompleted autopsy report are required as “part of the proof that the coroner will use to complete his report,” Deslauriers said.
“There are an enormous amount of complaints about the length of time it takes to receive autopsy reports,” she added, noting that some autopsy reports take two years to be completed. “There are many families waiting for coroner’s reports.”
According to Radio-Canada, Frechette has been running self-improvement courses for about two decades, and claims to be channelling Melchisedech, a Biblical figure.
Frechette told Radio-Canada, which was slated to air the show at 9 p.m. Thursday, that about 2,000 people have taken her courses.
Lavigne apparently completed 85 sessions and paid more than $18,900. …
via Chantale Lavigne was ‘cooked to death,’ coroner says | News | National Post.
‘Cloaking’ a 3-D object from all angles demonstrated
Researchers have “cloaked” a three-dimensional object, making it invisible from all angles, for the first time.
However, the demonstration works only for waves in the microwave region of the electromagnetic spectrum.
It uses a shell of what are known as plasmonic materials; they present a “photo negative” of the object being cloaked, effectively cancelling it out.
The idea, outlined in New Journal of Physics, could find first application in high-resolution microscopes.
Most of the high-profile invisibility cloaking efforts have focused on the engineering of “metamaterials” – modifying materials to have properties that cannot be found in nature.
The modifications allow metamaterials to guide and channel light in unusual ways – specifically, to make the light rays arrive as if they had not passed over or been reflected by a cloaked object. …
via BBC News – ‘Cloaking’ a 3-D object from all angles demonstrated.
Blood pressure ‘should be measured in both arms’
Measuring blood pressure in both arms should be routine because the difference between left and right arm could indicate underlying health problems, says a study review.
The Lancet research found that a large difference could mean an increased risk of vascular disease and death.
Although existing guidelines state that blood pressure should be measured in both arms, it is not often done.
But a heart charity said it was too early to judge the findings.
The arm with the higher pressure can vary between individuals, but it is the difference between arms that counts, the study suggests.
Dr Christopher Clark and colleagues, from the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Exeter, reviewed 28 previous study papers looking at this area.
Most people in the study had an elevated blood pressure risk and about one-third had a normal level of risk.
The study concluded that a difference in systolic blood pressure of 10 millimetres of mercury (mm Hg) between arms could identify patients at high risk of asymptomatic peripheral vascular disease.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote
It’s too early to say whether this idea could become part of standard healthcare practice.”
Natasha Stewart British Heart Foundation
A difference of 15mg Hg would also indicate an increased risk of cerebrovascular disease, a 70% increased risk of cardiovascular mortality and 60% increased risk of death from all causes, the authors said.
Peripheral vascular disease (PVD) is the narrowing and hardening of the arteries that supply blood to the legs and feet. There are often no symptoms. …
via BBC News – Blood pressure ‘should be measured in both arms’.
My last left arm blood pressure was 104/62. Other left arm readings before that at various times were 112/70, 118/68, and 100/58.
Your blood pressure is a measurement of how hard your heart muscle is beating. It relates to the pressure your blood exerts against the artery walls as it flows through the body. Your blood pressure is recorded in two numbers listed as a fraction. The top number is your systolic pressure and represents the heart muscle contracting. The other number is the diastolic and represents the heart muscle at rest. The result is your blood pressure reading such as 120 over 80 mmHg (millimeters of mercury). …
Systolic Values
If your systolic pressure is below 120, then your blood pressure is considered normal. If the reading is between 120 and 139, then you have borderline high blood pressure, or prehypertension. If your systolic pressure rises above 140, then you may be diagnosed with high blood pressure. In some cases, just this reading can be high in a condition called isolated systolic hypertension. Your systolic pressure tends to naturally rise with age.
Diastolic Values
If your diastolic blood pressure is lower than 80, then your blood pressure is considered normal. A value of 80 to 89 suggests borderline high blood pressure, or prehypertension. If your diastolic pressure is 90 or greater, then you may be diagnosed with high blood pressure. Unlike systolic pressure, diastolic pressure does not tend to fluctuate as much. Your diastolic pressure tends to decline after age 60. …
Read more: www.livestrong.com
Unemployment in Spain tops five million
The outlook for the European economy turned a shade darker yesterday after new figures showed that Spain’s jobless total had surged beyond the five million mark for the first time since modern records began, with the unemployment rate rising to 22.9 per cent.
The increase to 5,273,600 in the final quarter of 2011 means 1.5 million households now have no wageearners. The dismal figures also reinforced Spain’s position as the country with Europe’s worst unemployment rate.
But after five years of relentlessly rising dole queues, perhaps the most shocking figure of all is that 48.6 per cent of its under 24-year-olds are now out of work. Since 2008, the youth unemployment total has almost tripled, to nearly 900,000.
Comment:
There is plenty of work that needs to be done , leave the government out of it. Use a negotiated barter system. examples . Trade a chicken for a hair cut. Do yard work for a few days in exchange for a pair of pants and a shirt. Haul some trash and cut the grass for a meal. A neighborhood of like minded citizens can meet and negotiate exchange rates and settle disputes between parties. You don’t need government generated cash to eat and find shelter and clothe yourselves. You can have a working society that exchanges services for goods that can be negotiated for or priced beforehand.
All native populations did this as a normal thing before the rise of governments and generation of money and taxes on labor of citizens to support works for the common good and defense. Just step back to a barter system until the economic system improves. A barter system is the first step to an economic improvement of the system. You can use any medium of exchange that is agreed on between you and your neighbor from pretty sea shells to horseshoes. The medium has to be either rare, decorative, or results from the labor of man, the basic unit of wealth. Meet with a few friends and give it a try. You’ll be surprised to see it works. Take care. …via Unemployment in Spain tops five million – Europe – World – The Independent.
Theresa May unveils plan to fight anti-social behaviour
Home Secretary Theresa May is due to outline plans to give communities tougher protection from anti-social behaviour in England and Wales.
She will say she still hears “horror stories of victims reporting the same problem over and over again”.
Pilot schemes this summer will force the authorities to act if five households in a neighbourhood complain.
Mrs May will also announce what changes she intends to make to the pay of police officers in England and Wales.
Labour said the plans to combat anti-social behaviour were “belated and weak” and showed that the home secretary was “out of touch”.
Details of the proposals will be outlined in a speech by Mrs May on police reform in London on Monday.
It is too easy to overlook the harm that persistent anti-social behaviour causes, she will say.
“Many police forces, councils and housing providers are working hard, but I still hear horror stories of victims reporting the same problem over and over again, and getting no response,” she will add.
“These long-running problems – and the sense of helplessness that goes with them – can destroy a victim’s quality of life and shatter a community’s trust in the police. …
Shadow Home Office minister Gloria DePiero criticised the plans.
“This is a belated and weak announcement from the Home Secretary which shows how out of touch she is with the anti-social behaviour problems many communities face,” she said.
“After two years of doing nothing to tackle anti-social behaviour, the home secretary has to do better than a few pilots that won’t start until the summer, and which seem to suggest that anti-social behaviour should not be taken seriously if only two or three people complain.”
Mrs May will also announce long-awaited reforms to the pay and allowances of 130,000 police officers.
BBC home editor Mark Easton says she is likely to accept a compromise deal broadly agreed between police and the independent Police Arbitration Tribunal.
But he says it comes with an additional cost of more than £13m a year, and with the service already facing 20% cuts, the question is how the missing millions will be found.
A review of police conditions of service by lawyer Tom Winsor was expected to have been implemented last October, but negotiations stalled.
These reforms would have saved an estimated £70m by now.
via BBC News – Theresa May unveils plan to fight anti-social behaviour.
Ha ha ha! The British are hilarious. From the photo and lack of examples given in the text, it seems that this “anti-social behavior” which would require police action if five different households complained would be something like … wearing sports clothing that hide one’s mouth from public view. Nothing a good beating by some well paid police couldn’t straighten out. The youth might, after all, be frowning, grinning in an anti-social way, or gnashing teeth and many households could certainly be traumatized by that. Innit? Andwhatsmore, the video cameras on every corner can’t read their lips when they do that.
Sound wave attack on testicles ‘may stop sperm’
A dose of ultrasound to the testicles can stop the production of sperm, according to researchers investigating a new form of contraception. A study on rats published in Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology showed that sound waves could be used to reduce sperm counts to levels that would cause infertility in humans.Researchers described ultrasound as a “promising candidate” in contraception. However, far more tests are required before it could be used.The concept was first proposed in the 1970s, but is now being pursued by researchers at the University of North Carolina who won a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. They found that two, 15-minute doses “significantly reduced” the number of sperm-producing cells and sperm levels. It was most effective when delivered two days apart and through warm salt water. In humans, the researchers said men were considered to be “sub-fertile” when sperm counts dropped below 15 million sperm per millilitre.The sperm count in rats dropped to below 10 million sperm per millilitre.Lead researcher Dr James Tsuruta said: “Further studies are required to determine how long the contraceptive effect lasts and if it is safe to use multiple times.”
Will 3D printers lead toward nanofactories?
The coming era of atomically precise manufacturing will provide digital control of the structure of matter for a very wide range of possible products and will make possible personal manufacturing of most products. Steps toward digital control of the structure of matter and personal manufacturing, although on a scale much less precise than atomic and for a much more limited range of products, are to be seen with today’s rapidly developing 3D-printing technology. Rival technologies were on display a few weeks ago in Las Vegas. From BBC News “CES 2012: 3D printer makers’ rival visions of future” by Leo Kelion:
With a whir and a click the job is done. In the space of 20 minutes a plastic bottle opener has been constructed by the Replicator – a 3D printing machine capable of making objects up to the size of a loaf of bread.
The device is made by the New York start-up Makerbot Industries and was launched this week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
The newly-created bottle opener feels warm to the touch and has to be prised away from its base.
It has been created by using extrusion technology – a process in which a spindle of plastic thread is unravelled, melted and fed through a print head which draws the object layer by layer – in this case at a rate of 40mm per second. …
Objects can be created on a computer using free online software such as TinkerCAD or Google Sketchup, before being transferred to the Replicator on a SD memory card.
Alternatively other people’s designs can be downloaded from Makerbot’s community website Thingiverse. …
Take a walk to the other side of the convention centre and you will find another plastic printer maker with another new product, but a very different way of thinking.
3D Systems is a North Carolina-based veteran of the business.
“We invented 3D printers,” its Israeli-born chief executive Abe Reichental says.
“For 25 years we have taken the classic journey of taking expensive, complex technology and bringing it down in price.
“We have about 1,000 workers worldwide. We are a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange. We have almost as many patents as employees.”
The firm is at CES to publicise the launch of Cube, its first consumer-focused product.
The $1,299 device is smaller than Makerbot’s but looks more user-friendly, utilising cartridges rather than spools of plastic thread.
It also boasts its own app store. The launch library includes software to customise belt buckles, a program to turn your voice into a bracelet design, and perhaps most excitingly software from developer Geomagic for Microsoft’s Kinect sensor that allows the peripheral to replicate the user’s face. …
Philippe Van Nedervelde, Foresight’s Executive Director-Europe, contributes his thoughts on the significance of current developments in 3D printers,
Check out:
-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLgZL0OAJhg
-http://cubify.com/
-http://fabbaloo.com/blog/2012/1/6/secret-cubify-project-to-be-unveiled.htmlThe era of Personal 3D Printing for consumers [has officially started], it seems. And what with its existing track record of excellence plus the slew of key 3D printing companies it has been buying up the company 3D Systems is well poised to become the IBM, Apple, or HP of this new space. (25 years from now, someone should kick me if I do not buy any shares now.)
My sense is that this launch is a close analog to the start-of-an-era-marking launch of the first PC by IBM on August 12, 1981. In some ways, a possibly even closer analog may be the launch of the original Mac on January 24, 1984.
Very interesting times ahead!…
~ Philippe ~
Perhaps Philippe is not exaggerating the significance of this emerging personal manufacturing technology. Personal manufacturing of plastic consumer items may accelerate developing productive nanosystems to make possible personal manufacturing of complex atomically precise consumer products.
—James Lewis
Occupy Oakland arrests reach 400; City Hall vandalized
Saturday’s daylong protest was the most contentious since authorities dismantled the Occupy Oakland encampment late last year.
Reporting from Oakland -
Officials surveyed damage Sunday from a volatile Occupy protest that resulted in hundreds of arrests the day before and left the historic City Hall vandalized after demonstrators broke into the building, smashed display cases, cut electrical wires and burned an American flag.Police placed the number of arrests at about 400 from Saturday’s daylong protest – the most contentious since authorities dismantled the Occupy Oakland encampment late last year.
Mayor Jean Quan condemned the local movement’s tactics as “a constant provocation of the police with a lot of violence toward them” and said the demonstrations were draining scarce resources from an already strapped city. Damage to the City Hall plaza alone has cost $2 million since October, she said, about as much as police overtime and mutual aid.
Oakland has logged five homicides since Friday, and Police Chief Howard Jordan said the law enforcement “personnel and resources dedicated to Occupy reduce our ability to focus on public safety priorities.”
The Occupy action was publicized by the group as a planned takeover of a vacant building that would be “repurposed” as a “social center, convergence center and headquarters of the Occupy Oakland movement.” In an open letter to Quan on Wednesday, the group warned that if police attempted to thwart the takeover, “indefinite occupation” of Oakland’s airport, port and City Hall could follow. …
If the Occupy movement gets what it wants, wouldn’t there actually be more money for the local police whose budgets are getting cut?
January 29 2012
Two-arm blood pressure check indicator for risk from heart disease or death
Japan emissions rising after atomic crisis: report
Most people don’t understand “heritability” | Gene Expression
According to the reader survey 88 percent said they understood what heritability was. But only 34 percent understood the concept of additive genetic variance. For the purposes of this weblog it highlights that most people don’t understand heritability, but rather heritability. The former is the technical definition of heritability which I use on this weblog, the latter is heritability in the colloquial sense of a synonym for inheritance, biological and cultural. Almost everyone who understands the technical definition of heritability will know what heritability in the ‘narrow sense’ is, often just informally termed heritability itself. It is the proportion of phenotype variability that can be attributed to additive genetic variation. Those who understand additive genetic variance and heritability in the survey were 32 percent of readers. If you understand heritability in the technical manner you have to understand additive genetic variance. This sets the floor for the number who truly understand the concept in the way I use on this weblog (I suspect some people who were exceedingly modest who basically understand the concept for ‘government purposes’ put themselves in the ‘maybe’ category’). After nearly 10 years of blogging (the first year or so of which I myself wasn’t totally clear on the issue!) that’s actually a pretty impressive proportion. You take what you can get.
That which does not kill yeast makes it stronger
Stealthy leprosy pathogen evades critical vitamin D-dependent immune response
Genetic regulation of metabolomic biomarkers: Paths to cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes
Want your enemies to trust you? Put on your baby face
Cancer sequencing initiative discovers mutations tied to aggressive childhood brain tumors
Body clock receptor linked to diabetes in new genetic study
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Have you been affected by anti-social behaviour? Do you think the home secretary’s plan will make a difference? You can send us your views and experiences using the form below.